TERMS OF REFERENCE

Recrutement of:

ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Individual Consultant

• Position title: Associate Software Engineer
• Contract type: Individual Consultant (Full -Time)
• Job Level: Associate
• Duration: Fixed Term, One year renewable
• Location: Kigali, Rwanda 
• Deadline: 30 April 2026 at 11:00PM Kigali time (GMT+2)

1. Context and Background

Smart Africa is an alliance of over 40 African countries, international organizations, and global private sector partners committed to accelerating Africa’s digital transformation. Launched in 2013 by seven Heads of State and now representing over one billion people, the Alliance drives sustainable socio-economic development through ICTs and affordable broadband, with a shared vision of creating a single digital market in Africa by 2030.

Under its Technology-Driven Entrepreneurship Program, Smart Africa coordinates the Smart Africa Network of Incubators and Accelerators (SANIA) – a pan-African platform connecting incubators, accelerators, startup assist organizations, governments, investors, and development partners to strengthen and scale Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The SANIA digital platform serves as the operational backbone of this initiative, enabling collaboration and knowledge sharing across the ecosystem. The platform requires continuous technical maintenance, feature development, and user assist to ensure reliability, scalability, and an optimal user experience.

Visit https://smartafrica.org/ and https://sania.smartafrica.org/ for more information about Smart Africa and SANIA

2. Duties and Responsibilities of the Associate Software Engineer

The Associate Software Engineer will ensure the technical performance, security, and continuous improvement of the SANIA platform across the following areas:

I. Platform Maintenance & Stability

• Perform day-to-day technical maintenance and monitoring of the platform hosted on AWS EC2 infrastructure
• track system performance, uptime, and security across production environments
• detect, troubleshoot, and resolve bugs and technical issues in a timely manner
• Execute regular updates, patches, backups, and server-level maintenance
• Enforce data protection and cybersecurity best practices

II. Development & Feature Upgrades

• create new modules and functionalities aligned with the SANIA platform roadmap using the Laravel (PHP) framework
• Optimize and refactor existing modules for performance and maintainability
• execute platform upgrades, performance enhancements, and scalability improvements
• keep well-structured, documented, and secure codebase following best practices
• Development of a mobile version of the platform (iOS and Android)

III. UI/UX & Product Improvement

• Enhance the user interface and overall user experience through iterative improvements
• Ensure cross-device responsiveness, accessibility, and compliance with web standards
• Apply user-centered design principles to all platform features
• Translate user feedback and behavioral analytics into actionable feature enhancements

IV. User assist & Community Interaction

• Respond promptly to user technical inquiries and assist requests
• Collect, structure, and prioritize user feedback for development planning
• assist community management functions in coordination with the SANIA team
• Contribute to strategies for improving user engagement and retention

V. Documentation & Reporting

• keep comprehensive technical documentation of the platform architecture and codebase
• Document all updates, new features, deployments, and system changes
• deliver periodic technical reports on platform status, performance, and development progress
• organize with external service providers and vendors as required

3. Key Qualifications

a. Education & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field
• Minimum two (2) years of proven hands-on experience in full-stack web development
• Proven track record of maintaining and scaling live digital platforms in production environments
• Experience with UI/UX improvement, product iteration, and user-centered development processes
• Experience working within multi-stakeholder or ecosystem-driven platforms is a strong advantage

b. Technical Skills

The candidate must demonstrate strong proficiency in the following areas:

• PHP development with the Laravel framework (required – the SANIA platform is Laravel-based)
• Front-end technologies (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Vue.js or React)
• Database management systems (MySQL, PostgreSQL)
• RESTful API development, integration, and documentation
• Version control using Git (GitHub/GitLab workflows)
• AWS cloud services, particularly EC2 instance management, deployment, and server administration (required – the platform is hosted on AWS EC2)
• CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins)
• Cybersecurity fundamentals and data protection standards
• Familiarity with analytics and user behavior tracking tools is an asset
• Certification or working knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics is an added value

C. Core Competencies

• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to work independently and oversee deliverables with minimal supervision
• Detail-oriented with structured documentation and reporting practices
• User-centered and product-oriented mindset
• Effective communication of technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Basic understanding of community engagement and platform management principles
• Confidentiality and Integrity

d. Languages

• Fluency in English is required; proficiency in French is an advantage

4. Duration and Duty Station

• The assignment is full-time for an initial period of one (1) year, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and perform as well as and availability of funds.
• Duty station: Kigali, Rwanda. The duties shall be performed for on-site at Smart Africa’s Office to ensure effective coordination and collaboration.

5 .Reporting Line

The Associate Software Engineer will report directly to the MIS and IT Operations Officer.

6. Application Instructions

Interested candidates fulfilling the position requirements should send the following application documents to the email address: hr@smartafrica.org, with mention of “Associate Software Engineer” in the email subject line:

• Motivation letter 
• Curriculum Vitae 
• Copies of academic and professional qualification certificates

The deadline for submitting applications is 30 April 2026 at 11:00PM Kigali time (GMT+2).

Note: Only selected candidates for interview will be contacted.